


Skeletons and grass plains and floating bones

by Failing_Physics



Category: Autodale (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, and maybe i'll write more if enough people like it, catch me researching 1950s names for this, post episode 'friendly shadow', they don't have names so the girl is called Kathy and she named the freak Tim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24944239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Failing_Physics/pseuds/Failing_Physics
Summary: The two children have been running from Autodale for a month and everything is going well. The adult Freaks ignore them and the derelict houses they find have enough food to keep them going. And then one day a storm catches up to them and it all goes wrong.
Relationships: little girl & child freak
Comments: 17
Kudos: 32





	Skeletons and grass plains and floating bones

**Author's Note:**

> I love the Autodale series so much but the Friendly Shadow episode was the first one that inspired some fanfiction.

They were called Freaks.

Or at least that's what were scrawled in the books Kathy found. Books that were clutched in the hands of bleached skeletons that she tried to avoid at all costs. But there were so many of them and the word wouldn’t stop flashing across her eyes every time she glanced at Tim. Because  _ he  _ wasn’t a Freak, was he? Sure, Tim  _ did  _ look like the Freaks that the pair saw in the far off, lumbering across distant hills, but they were so terrifying and Tim was just a kid - like her. 

She didn’t know his name, not really. But everyone needs a name - that’s what she’d decided when she’d first met him all those months ago. And anyway, Tim suited him and he didn’t seem to mind, so Tim he was - to her at least.

Kathy had found him staring at one of the journals once, something like sadness in his eyes. She had touched Tim’s arm and the sadness had snapped to terror as if he thought she was going to realise what he truly was. As if she was going to hit him, going to run away. Something in Kathy’s heart had broken that day as she just took her friend’s hand in her own and squeezed in reassurance. 

“It’s fine Time. We’re fine” she’d whispered and he’d blinked at her, both of them communicating in that strange silent way of theirs. 

They’d just kept walking south, through fields of waving grass and swaying bones moving in a non-existent breeze. Plains where you weren’t sure which way was up and which was down. 

Kathy couldn’t believe just how much world was beyond the towering walls of Autodale. And it was so  _ chaotic  _ \- so different from the perfect box hedges and pastel houses that had filled her life. Sometimes she would be struck by pangs of homesickness, but now, a month out of Autodale, they were few and far between. Kathy knew that for Tim it was worse - even though he had let them escape, the Friendly Shadow had… 

Tim nudged her arm and Kathy was broken out of her train of thought as she glanced at him. He cocked his head and let out a soft grumbling sort of noise.  _ Are you okay?  _ That’s what it meant. She smiled slightly at him.

“I’m okay.” 

Tim just blinked and pointed off to the jagged horizon, agitation in every line of his body. Kathy followed his claw to the black mass of thunderclouds that was gathering ominously. Even from such a distance, Kathy could see the sheets of rain and flashes of lightning dancing across the darkness. She swallowed. So far the pair had been lucky enough to avoid heavy rain - when the storms rolled in there was always an abandoned house or town to shelter in, normally with enough food to scavenge to let them wait it out. 

But Kathy could sense Tim’s worry. They were quite literally in the middle of nowhere - in the centre of another vast plain where the only cover were copses of stunted trees. She grasped Tim’s arm tightly and he huddled closer to her. With an unspoken signal, the two bolted towards the nearest group of trees.

Halfway there, Kathy noticed a giant ripple racing towards them, flattening the grass as it went. It took her a moment to realise that it was a tremendous gust of wind. The solid air struck them, knocking Kathy backward and making Tim stagger. He fought his way over to her, bellowing urgently and he heaved her upright as they pushed and struggled through the storm. Blue lightning snaked down from the raging sky, sparks from it setting grass fires ablaze before they were quenched by the pouring rain.

The copse of trees loomed ahead as Kathy and Tim sprinted forward, ducking under low branches that drenched them with water as they shoved through. The wind’s howling abated somewhat as they emerged into the middle of the trees. Kathy released a shaky breath and released Tim’s hand from where she had been clenching it so hard his blue skin had turned white. There was a couple seconds of silence as they both stared at each other, breathing heavily as they shook with adrenaline. Kathy felt a smile creep across her face before breaking into fits of hysterical laughter. Tim stared at her for a moment and then joined in, throwing his head back and letting out little raspy growls that Kathy had learnt was his way of laughing. They stood like that until Tim slipped back and fell into the mud, wiping the streaming rain off of his face, causing Kathy to double over again. 

And then - suddenly - there was the smell of ozone and a tongue of lightning flared down from the heavens, so terribly bright against the rolling thunderclouds. With a crash like the very air was being ripped in two, it struck a nearby tree, the world flashing gold and red and white as the electricity surged down the trunk. Kathy’s scream was swallowed by another roar of thunder. 

The tree groaned and cracked, before a huge branch split off, plummeting to the ground and landing with a sickening  _ crack  _ on Tim’s leg. 

The light in his eyes flickered as he bellowed and thrashed, Kathy choking back sobs as she ran over. She gripped the log with all her strength, the hot bark burning her hands as she heaved it up with burning muscles. 

With another crack, the portion of wood she was pulling at snapped off and she was thrown back, panting and sobbing as she landed with a bone-jarring thud. Tim’s breathing grew labored and he stopped struggling, his tentacles limp against the mud. Kathy gripped his hand in her’s.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I can’t move it!”

Tim snorted softly, his breath warm against her frozen face.  _ Don’t worry.  _

Kathy shook her head, “I  _ am  _ worrying Tim! What are we going to do? Your leg is broken and I -”

Gently growling, he nudged her cheek with his velvety muzzle.  _ It’s not safe. You need to go! _

“I’m not leaving you!” Kathy was practically shrieking at this point as Tim reached up and shoved her away before collapsing back, as if that had sapped that last of his strength. She scrambled back and crouched in the mud next to his head, stroking his face and trying not to gaze at his leg that was bent at an unnatural angle. 

He stared back at her, eyes dim. 

____________________

Time wound on and the storm wandered elsewhere, replaced by a chilling wind that, even sheltered in the grove of trees, seemed to pierce right through to their bones. Tim struggled from time to time, but the log stayed stuck fast. But now he just lay unmoving on the ground, breathing shallowly. 

The cold had seized Kathy’s muscles a long time ago, but she dared not leave Tim’s side. Dared not move in fact, other than to pull her thin jacket tighter. She’d given up trying to keep feeling in fingers and toes that were now numb. Her breath came in silvery puffs and her face had taken on a ghostly blue hue. 

Kathy was… exhausted. It was hard to move, hard to think even; the shivering had stopped a while ago, but she forced herself to stay awake if only for Tim. Though her eyelids were drooping and she hardly noticed when the ground started to shudder with giant footsteps.

Three adult Freaks stalked through the copse, growling and grunting between themselves. The sounds abruptly cut off as the largest locked unsettling silver eyes on the pair of children huddled in the dirt. Kathy knew she should be deathly afraid, but that would require energy she wasn’t sure she had in her. 

One of the trio stepped forward, lowering a heavily clawed hand to touch her forehead - Kathy tried to jerk away, but the sudden movement unbalanced her and she toppled backwards onto Tim, his abdominal arms digging uncomfortably into her back as he let out a low whine. 

“Tim…” she mumbled, words slurred as the adult Freaks poked at the log pinning Tim’s leg.Tim moaned in pain. Kathy watched in shock tinged with horror as the largest slipped an arm under the wood and heaved upwards. The other two did the same and, inch by inch, the branch was lifted up with a shower of dirt and insects. 

Kathy wasn’t sure if fighting back was a decision that would get her killed, but as one of the Freaks lifted her off the ground, she did her best. Even if that amounted to wriggling as violently as she could. But both sets of arms held her firmly in place against the rough cobalt body. 

“Get off!” Kathy slurred, but the Freak just ignored her.

Another did the same with Tim, who snarled and narrowed glowing eyes. The leader gave a low bleat and the three set off at a brisk pace out into the open plains. Despite the fear that still clutched her mind in iron fingers, the rocking of the Freak as it ran coupled with her frazzled brain was strangely soothing and Kathy slowly felt herself slip into blackness. 

____________________

The first thing Kathy was aware of was that she was warm and dry and the second thing was the absence of that bone-chilling wind. The girl blearily opened her eyes, blinking them a couple of times to adjust to the darkness. It was clearly nighttime and for a moment Kathy was confused as to why there was no moon or stars speckling the sky above her before she realised that she was laying in a derelict building, tightly wrapped in a fraying blanket. 

For a few seconds she just lay there before -

“Tim!” Kathy gasped, scrambling out of the cloth so fast that she fell and scraped her palms painfully against the concrete. There was a quiet snuffle behind her and Kathy spun to see Tim asleep in another blanket. His leg was heavily bound in two planks of wood and strips of knotted fabric. She stared at it in disbelief, the Freaks had… helped them? 

But no, Kathy shook her head, Freaks were dangerous and scary and unpredictable - why would they help two children? Kathy scrambled to the doorway of the hut and peered outside. The same grasslands they had been traversing earlier that day stretched out for thousands of miles, and to either side of the house, other squat and abandoned homes crowded around them, marking the outskirts of a vast city. 

Narrowing her eyes, Kathy squinted to the horizon where three lumbering figures were disappearing over the curve of the world. Despite all they had done for the two, Kathy felt infinitely safer knowing that they were far away, although a strange pang of sadness quickly followed as she ducked back into the room. 

She crawled over to Tim who snuggled up to her as she settled next to him, his tentacles warm against her skin. Kathy smiled a little and pulled him closer, feeling safe in the knowledge that as long as they stuck together, they could achieve anything. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, comments make my day :)


End file.
